[Ads-l] Major Discovery Relating to "Whole Nine Yards"

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

While searching I did come across multiple instances of a document
type with a length measured in yards: petitions with signatures. The
following example from 1847 is in the time period of the 1850
citation. The laugh indicated the humorous aspect of measuring a
document in yards.

Date: January 23, 1847
Newspaper: Semi-weekly Union
Newspaper Location: Washington, DC
Quote Page 4
Database: GenealogyBank

[Begin excerpt]
He supposed that petition was about four yards long. [A laugh.] There
was another some six yards long--and another--and another--being
altogether over a thousand signatures.
[End excerpt]

Garson

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